Life and Death in the Capital Wasteland
by Alfonse Pardieu
Summary: The story of the third man to step out of Vault 101. Follow Tom Holden as he navigates the peril and evils of the Capital Wasteland and its inhabitants alike.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

When the door of Vault 101 opened, my entire world was turned on its end. If you can imagine- no, you cannot imagine all the security and naivety bred within the confines of the metal walls being destroyed, fleeing out the gaping hole left in the absence of the door, the door that we had seldom seen and couldn't comprehend opening.

Our understanding, ever since we were children, of what laid on the other side of the vault door was vague, and in some ways that exacerbated the fear we felt of what the world had in store for all of us. It was unknown and unknowable, but the metallic coffin we were born, raised, and would someday die in was safe, it was the one constant in a world of chaos and the lynchpin of this safe haven was the door.

So, life in the vault was boring but with good reason and we appreciated that without even thinking about it. When James and his son left the vault, it obliterated the comfortable mental and physical construct we had built up. However, I had always, in the most sacred, hidden and sublime fibers of my conscious longed for something other than the dark hallways and the same people day in and out, stretching from now until the banal conclusion of a meaningless life. A life lived only for the sake of staying alive.

Perhaps it was the inseparable curiosity of humans that led me to the vault vestibule that fateful day. Perhaps it was the aforementioned subconscious longing for meaning in a life destined for nothingness. Or, perhaps something that I could never know and never would, but nonetheless on the morning of August 17th, my life took a turn for the meaningful. I remember it vividly

The vault was in complete disarray; James' departure was the most cataclysmic event in history of Vault 101. However, the previous night all I knew was that I was not going to be sleeping well after a day of arduous manual labor. And in fact I didn't, I was up with the type of insomnia where staying awake is the most soul grating thing there is, and there is no position in which you are even remotely comfortable. Not wanting to upset my wife, I adjourned to the Vault-Tec couch in our Vault-Tec living room. It was not comfortable, but nothing really was in the Vault.

I laid down, staring up at the blank ceiling listlessly looking for something that I knew I wouldn't find. Idly looking around the room, I paid attention to the heartbeat, so to speak, of the Vault. The fans that circulated the air, the pumps that moved water through the Vault's miles and miles of piping, it was a deep sound that penetrated every activity of your life, for every experience of your life is in the Vault. It was easy to overlook, but I was able to tune in, so to speak, to this omnipresent song of the machine that protected us. It was calming, the only lullaby that could coax me to sleep.

I was awakened by my apartment's buzzer going off. Instinctively looking at the clock, I saw the clock read 9:30 before rushing to open the hatch, admitting my friend Robert. He was breathing heavy as if he had run to my apartment. I can't think of a reason why anyone would need to run, or rather anything someone would need to run from, in the Vault. Naturally, I knew something was amiss.

"Robert, what's the-" I began. He cut me off.

"James- he opened the vault door... radroaches- running loose in the corridors..." he was practically stammering. I told him to sit down.

My wife, hearing the commotion, came out of the only other room in our apartment. She looked so beautiful- even in the bland gray Vault Tec pajamas, her soft features contrasted sharply with the sullen lighting and harshly manmade Vault- her sleepy bewilderment so out of place in this increasingly dire situation.

"What's going on?" Punctuated with a yawn, my wife vocalized the question that was bordering my conscious. I shrugged, made an exasperated expression and turned to Robert. Something he had said piqued my interest.

"Robert, you said that James opened the Vault door?" I didn't even feel like asking how, or why, or with what intention, because frankly there was no way of knowing, I figured I'd stick to the facts.

"That's what they're saying. I didn't see it myself, but they say that James left the Vault." My friend was regaining his composure. I frowned, I had no idea what I was going to do I just know I needed to see the outside. I needed to peek into the unknown, to see and to understand what this Vault, the dwelling that had claimed the spark of life that I had never known, was or was not protecting me from.

My eyes lingered, momentarily, on my friend. I turned to my wife and spoke,"Hon, get dressed, we have to go see this." She shrugged, sighed and returned to the bedroom. Within five minutes, we had left our apartment.

I knew it was dangerous. Some fragment of my primary education reminded me that emergency procedure, used in times I would imagine such as these, stated that all residents should remain in their rooms should some catastrophic event happened. I continued anyway, dragging my reluctant wife with me.

Once in the foyer, I stood, staring at the corridor leading to the door. My wife stopped me and asserted herself.

"Alright Tom, we've come this far, now you owe me an explanation. What is it exactly that you're trying to accomplish?"

"Mary, look, I don't, or didn't know until now. I'll spare you my life story, we don't have much time. I want to leave the vault." There was a second of conversational silence. The ambient commotion of the Vault continued around us. My wife stared at me.

"We've lived our entire lives in the Vault. It's not perfect, but it's far better than the hell that the doctor just marched into- why leave now?" She was right, nonetheless my resolve was absolute.

"We're never going to get another chance. I don't want to live a life just for the sake of survival- I want to find some kind of meaning, and I don't know if it's on the other side of the door but it never has been and never will be in these walls."

More silence. I could tell she thought I was insane, and I probably am. She pleaded with me.

"Look, this is crazy. We should just go back to our quarters."

I had made my decision. "It's our only chance, don't you see? We're getting out of here, just like the doctor. I'm not going to let them stop us."

In the argument I was having with my wife, I didn't notice James' son pass behind us, headed for the door. I heard shots, the two guards that would've killed us before they let me fulfill my ambition were dead on the Vault's concrete floor. I grabbed my wife by the arm.

"Now's our chance- let's go."

We ran for the door. I scooped up one of the guard's 10mm, I figured it wouldn't hurt to have it on the other side of the vault door. Mary was mesmerized by the sight of the two dead guards, her eyes fixed on the crimson flow from the heart of the second guard making its unyielding advance on the gray expanse. I had made it a few steps before I looked back at her.

I realized at once that she was totally against me on this. The Vault was her home, and I suppose her unlike I was content in the safe banality of a home, a prison. She stood there, frozen in time. I saw her mouth move to form "I'm sorry-" but didn't hear the words. She turned and walked, hands in the air, towards guards that were now pouring into the foyer. If ever there was a time that I wished I could turn back it was now. However, I was moved to the Vault door- the decision was no longer mine. In a second, I yelled to her.

"I'm coming back for you!". I turned and ran from the love of my life, the first of many rapidly disappearing luxuries afforded to me by life in the Vault. Turning from security, I ran towards the unknown that I had feared but was suddenly compelled to. A world open to my conquest.

Once in the chamber containing the massive vault door, drawn completely open, I sealed the door behind me. I took a brief moment to breathe, and turned to my fate.

It wasn't too late to turn back, but I walked forward. I walked to the precipice of my new life, knowing full well that the first step I took from the vault would be absolution, the point of no return, so to speak. I walked forward.

My first step onto dirt. It was soft, natural, beautiful and humble there on the ground but the first experience that was never had or felt inside the Vault. I couldn't know if this was the right choice from step one, but I knew that it was the decision I had made. I took step two.

It became easier from there. I didn't look back, but walked forward, straight into the light at the end of the small cave that housed the entrance to Vault 101. There was a door, rickety and wooden by the looks of it. Wood was rare in the Vault, and I'd never dreamed of a piece of furniture or a door made out of it. I mused that there was a lot of new revelations and an overwhelming amount of unfamiliarity by Vault standards waiting on the other side of this rather minor discovery. I pushed on it and walked into the most brilliant light I had ever beheld.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

On the bluff overlooking the Capital Wasteland, I for the first time truly understood my existence in the Vault. As I surveyed the charred, desolate expanse, I knew and internalized what we were protected from inside the Vault. The air was hot, but not humid. It was dry and carried with it an unpleasant aroma of barrenness- the kind of smell that hangs in the air when you kick up the ashes of a fire who's coals have only recently turned cold. It was an immense amount of new information to process, and although I had only rolled out of bed half an hour ago, it felt like I had been working for hours. I navigated the terrain, which proved more difficult than you might think after a life of walking completely flat surfaces, spanning the distance between me and a waist high boulder with mild difficulty. I sat and took stock of the situation, gazing over my new home.

It was always my understanding that the vaults were the only remaining safe havens of life on Earth, but like many of my long understood facts of life, that changed this morning when James left the vault. I figured there must be some civilization on this side of the Vault door, but it was quickly becoming apparent that society had not been thriving in our absence. As far as I could see, there were only the ruins of the once great capital of the once great country. Houses reduced to their frames and a crumbling facade, roads with foot wide fissures and cracks. There were massive concrete pillars on the horizon at regular intervals- I had no idea what those were for but they probably were damaged beyond repair.

I figured that I wasn't going to get anywhere by sitting here, and if I was going to survive in this completely new environment, the first step was finding another human. I descended the cliff in front of Vault 101, starting to acclimate to moving over broken terrain, not without difficulties however. On the first road I encountered, I strode towards the clump of derelict houses I had seen from the once scenic overlook outside of Vault 101.

Nothing. The town was deserted. Examining the houses, I found an immense sadness gripping me. This house was someone's life. Families were raised in this house, children grew old and moved away, there were Christmases and birthdays and joy and love contained in the walls that were now black and largely blown away by the nuclear holocaust. I poked through the ruins and found only tattered clothes. For the time being my standard issue Vault 101 jumpsuit could suffice, I mused.

I left the heap of destroyed buildings and forgotten memories and continued southeast on the road that ran through town. An hour or so had passed since I had left the vault, and with the unrelenting sun and unfamiliar heat, I was beginning to feel thirsty. I hoped I could find some clean water, but I was beginning to be aware of all the niceties I left behind in the Vault.

Shortly after leaving town, I found a sign that was just as battered as its surroundings would merit, but it had letters that were decidedly recent scrawled across the sign. "MEGATON" the sign read, with an arrow directing me to a more southerly route. I obliged the sign, figuring that this was my best bet at this point to find a town inhabited by people and not the sadness of the past.

Stumbling up the steepening path, I wasn't quite sure what I was looking at at first, but reasonably deduced that it must be Megaton. It looked like a pile of discarded metal, like the settlement had been put together by chance after explosions had dropped various pieces of objects once whole in the middle of the wastes. The most prominent feature was a still spinning turbine from some leviathan machine suspended over what must be the entrance. As I approached the monstrosity with awe, a robot confirmed my suspicions. This was Megaton, and I was welcome.

On the other side of the city's gates, I saw human life for the first time since I'd left the Vault. Relief flooded me, I rushed to the man in front of me, dressed in rags and carrying a rifle severely out of repair. I was so eager to tell him my story, and I don't know why. Perhaps I needed the confirmation that everything out here just wasn't as insane as I feared, or perhaps I just needed to get my bearings. Either way, I must have appeared crazy to him.

He cut the words off before they could leave my mouth "you must be from Vault 101." Taken aback, first at the interruption and then at his apparent clairvoyance, as I hadn't spoken a single word and yet this stranger knew my origins. I remembered the blue coveralls with "101" embroidered on the collar. He smiled and allowed me to speak.

"What is this place?" It was all I could come up with. A fair question, if obvious.

"This, friend, is Megaton. It's not the fanciest town around and a far cry from what you're used to, but we've got high walls, old mattresses, and a bar. What's more, your welcome to stay for as long as you want. I am Lucas Simms, and I will not hesitate to kill you should you start stirring up shit. That is a promise. As long as you keep in line, we have no problem." Simms finished what sounded like a carefully planned and often repeated introduction to his town and waited for my response.

"Thank you, Mr. Simms-"

"Please, call me Lucas." he interjected. I started again.

"Thank you, Lucas. It's been a long day, I haven't eaten or drank in what feels like a lifetime and at the moment I just need food. Where should I go?"

Without hesitation, he directed me to The Brass Lantern, an eatery situated at the bottom of the sizable crater that Megaton seemed to be situated in.

As I ambled down the steep crater wall, I inspected what could end up being my new home. It seemed to be the polar opposite of the Vault. In Vault 101, the entire affair was neatly laid out and cleanly executed. Megaton seemed to be, and probably was, thrown together with no plans, no thought to layout and little regard to aesthetics. Every build was built of scrap and some, being built on the side of a steep grade, were held up by questionable stilts. Pathways built in a similar manner wound in, around, above and below buildings. The whole of it looked like it could come crashing down if one vital strut was knocked out of place. With all the people I had already seen living here though, obviously there wasn't too much danger.

Arriving in the crater floor, my eyes were drawn first to the massive ovular metal mass dominating the central plaza of Megaton. This must be an atomic bomb. I was transfixed by its power, and even in its dormant state it commanded a great deal of respect as a supreme instrument of death. Thousands of these had been fired in the Great War of 2077. When the energy locked away inside was unleashed across a once thriving land, the world took a collective breath and waited for the result. When the dirt settled, when the fires receded, when all was quiet, society had been annihilated. Nothing had been accomplished or created, just destroyed beyond any hope of recovery.

No one could have possibly predicted the repercussions of their actions, lest not one of these awful devices be unleashed. It seemed almost comical that anyone would establish a town around such a thing. Perhaps it was a way of spitting in the face of the past. A deceleration that the forefathers of Megaton were not going to be thwarted by the follies of the past, instead looking only to the future. Or, as was much more probable, they just thought a crater would be as good a place as any to start a settlement. At the sight of the bomb, they figured, if it hasn't gone off yet, it isn't likely to any time soon.

Finding my destination, I took a seat at the outdoor bar. A pretty young girl who introduced herself as Jenny greeted me and asked what I'd be having. I sighed, shrugged, and answered.

"Well, I'd like something to drink and something to eat."

"Like?" she replied, eyebrow raised.

"Surprise me. I am a stranger in your land, and unaware of the local cuisine." I pointed to the 101 on my collar.

She smiled, and walked inside to get my order, open to interpretation. I mused if I should remain faithful to my wife, whom I doubted I'd ever see again, despite my intentions of returning to Vault 101. Not that this was a pressing concern at the moment, I thought as my stomach voiced its needs. I hadn't eaten since dinner last night in the Vault, which, again, felt like several lifetimes ago. Jenny emerged with my food and beverage.

"Brahmin steak and a Nuka Cola- the finest of the land, oh foreign traveler." She smiled again as she laid the provisions out in front of me. Damn, what a beautiful smile. I looked down at my meal.

I had no idea what a Brahmin was, but I had had Nuka Cola before in the vault. I was too hungry to turn my nose up at this food, and even if it was awful I had the refreshing Cola to look forward to. I cut into the steak, which was tender. Taking my first bite, it was actually quite tasty. A little dry, and there was no seasoning to speak of, but it was cooked through and there was plenty of it. After finishing my steak, I drained the Nuka Cola in two long gulps. I ate voraciously, not realizing how hungry I was until after I was done. Jenny came over to collect my plate.

"That will be 17 caps." No smile this time, I suppose it was time for me to pay?

"Look, I'm deeply sorry, but I haven't the faintest clue what a cap is and most assuredly don't have any to pay you with."

Jenny frowned and sighed. "Typically, when you consume someone's goods or services, it's customary to pay them. I guess you wouldn't know about that, Vault boy?"

I hung my head, ashamed of my lack of foresight. "Is there any other way I coul-" she cut me off;

"Yeah, I've got a huge stack of dishes that you can clean. I'll make an exception for you, because you caught me in a good mood and this is your first day out in the big bad Capital Wasteland. Follow me."

I obliged, grateful for her charity, and followed her into The Brass Lantern. Once back in the makeshift kitchen, which consisted of a sink, gas range, refrigerator, and for the time being, a sizable and precariously perched stack of dishes. Jenny showed me how to sufficiently clean everything and sat down by a small table in the corner. I began to perform my chore.

"Don't you have customers waiting outside?" I asked over my shoulder, wondering why she was waiting here watching me clean. The only exit was behind the outdoor bar, besides I had no intention of leaving.

"One of my brothers will get any settlers that stumble up to the bar. We don't get much business anyway, most people go to Moriarty's when they need to get drunk. Besides, why would I miss the chance to hear about those fancy shiny vaults from someone who grew up in one? So, what's it like?"

"Well, let's see..." I thought for a moment, and let my hands down in the water. Jenny interjected, which I was getting tired of people doing at this point.

"Don't leave your hands in that water too long- it's irradiated and your hands are no good to me horribly mutated." I shrugged and reached for another plate.

"Life in the Vault was boring and safe. Everybody had their appointed duty, and it seemed like our entire lives we were just biding our time, just staying alive waiting for something to happen and keeping the Vault running all the while. It was monotonous, it's not really an exciting story." I was getting the hang of this washing thing- the robots usually took care of it in the Vault.

Jenny paused before answering. "What a concept. Sometimes I wish thing were more boring around here. I mean, it's not like there are raiders infiltrating every night, Lucas and the Protectron out front keep us fairly safe, but every day is its own little adventure out here in the Wastes."

"Sounds great."

I could hear her smirk from across the room. "I'd like to hear you say that again in a month."

We chatted until I had worked my way through all the dishes. It was dark outside by the time I had finished. We walked outside together, and I marveled at the stars. In fact, I marveled at night itself. The lights dimmed during out sleep periods in the Vault, but nothing as dramatic or as beautiful as this. I felt like I could stare at it for hours.

"Still with us, Vault boy?" Jenny pulled me out of my trance.

"Oh, yeah. Jenny, do you know where I could sleep tonight?" I inquired.

She directed me up an embankment across the plaza from The Brass Lantern, to a common house. It had beds available to any fatigued traveler, such as myself, to lay their head for the night.

"Goodnight Jenny."

"Goodnight, Vault boy." She smiled, I could see her beautiful grin even through the dark. I realized I hadn't given her my name.

"Tom. You can call me Tom." I filled her in.

"I like Vault boy." She responded. I laughed, shrugged, and began my walk to the common house.

Once inside, I found an open bed to sleep in. Lying down, tired from the short travels but grand events of the day, I realized that there very well may be a future for me out here, and that perhaps, just maybe, it wasn't as insane and deadly out here as the Overseer and his underlings had led me to believe. I fell asleep exhausted, still very confused and disoriented, but smiling. I fell asleep with a quaint grin on my grimy face.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

When I awoke in the morning, I felt more refreshed and new and carefree than I could ever imagine or feel inside the Vault. I didn't have an alarm to wake up to, there was no list of daily chores and exercises to check off and labor through, counting off the minutes until I was allowed to collapse onto my stiff mattress, only to wake up and repeat the whole arduous affair the next day. The feeling that the entire day was open to do whatever pleased me was a new one, and one I looked forward to feeling every day herein.

I walked outside and was greeted with not cooler, there were very few places on Earth where it still got cold, but more tolerable whether as the sun hadn't yet made its way to its highest point in the vast grayish blue sky. I didn't quite know what to do with myself, not really having any duties or obligations other than to keep myself alive did have its caveats. I decided to go chat with Jenny, she seemed to like me enough to not brush me off when I started asking, to many, what must be painfully elementary questions about how to survive and live in this strange locale.

The Brass Lantern obviously didn't thrive on the breakfast crowd, as there was not a single patron at the bar. I found Jenny, bored, leaning against the wall of her bistro, waiting for customers that weren't likely to come. I walked up to her and wished her a good morning. She looked happy to see me and returned the sentiment. I took a seat at the bar.

"So, how was your first night in this shit hole? I trust our accommodations were bearable at the least?" She said, after which she reached into a cabinet to get something.

"Oh, it was fantastic. After all the craziness of yesterday, I was glad to have a mattress to sleep on period, let alone a not only bearable, but comfortable one." I finished speaking as she laid out a kebab with a strange looking meat on it. She gestured for me to eat.

"Jenny, you know I have no money to pay you with." I frowned. I was hungry, but I didn't particularly want to spend more time washing dishes.

"I know," she said with a little smile "but until I get you acclimated to all the assholes and dangerous, scary stuff you're going to see out here, I might as well keep you fed. You can pay me back later. These are iguana bits. I don't know what part of an iguana the bits come from, or if these even come from iguanas, but that's what we call them. Eat up."

I ate, thankful again for her continued support and altruism. The iguana bits weren't nearly as good as the Brahmin steak I had last night, in fact the iguana bits were a mixed bag. There were some tough parts of the meat, and other parts seemed like they were barely hanging on the kebab. It had a faint stale meat taste and was right on the borderline of an overall unpleasant experience to eat, but as I was quickly learning, food was food. I placed the now bare kebab on the dingy plate and pushed it forward. I had a slight grimace on my face.

"Not so good, is it?" Jenny found this amusing, I'm sure.

"It was fine." I lied and then quickly changed the subject. "What is there to do around here? How can I earn those caps that you wanted me to pay you with last night?"

She walked around the bar and took a seat on the stool next to mine and sat backwards, facing away from the bar and out on the town whose inhabitants were just starting to shake the tiredness that usually accompanies morning.

"Well let's see..." she paused for a moment and appeared to be collecting her thoughts "there's many ways to make a living here in the Capital Wasteland, and usually Wastelanders will end up doing many different things to bring the caps-"

"Wait, I still don't know exactly what a cap is." I cut her off, she looked a bit peeved. She reached into her pocket and procured a bottle cap from a Nuka-Cola.

"This is a cap, and its the standard unit of currency here in the Wastes. Don't ask me why we use it as money, I haven't the faintest idea. Someone decided it a long time ago and this is what we use now." She returned it to her pocket and continued.

"As I was saying before I was oh so rudely interrupted, you can earn caps just about any way you wish. You can steal them, sell shit you pick from around the wastes or off dead bodies, run errands for people, caps are easy enough to come by."

Her mention of theft piqued my interest. "Isn't stealing against the law?" I had done a stint in the Vault 101 jail when I was 17 for stealing my friend's water ration.

She actually burst out laughing. "One thing you need to learn quickly about the Wasteland is that there are no laws. If you're a massive prick, supposedly there's this shadowy band of mercs called the Regulators that spend their time killing exceptionally bad individuals, but you don't strike me as the kind of person who'd be done in my them, if they even exist. No, in the Wasteland there are only loyalties and respect and then a lot of assholes."

"How do you mean by that?" This all was coming as a bit of a shock to me.

"Well, in the Wastes there are plenty of people who have retained a sufficient sense of human decency, and then there's some sadistic folks out there who abuse the fact that there are no laws, and go around murdering and stealing from anyone who isn't loyal to them. Which is most people in the Wastes. These are your raiders, your slavers, Talon company mercs depending on who you might piss off. It's advisable to avoid these people, but since almost everyone runs into them at some point, it's useful to learn how to use a gun and abandon any reservations you have about killing people."

I have never, and hoped I'd never have to, kill anyone, but it was becoming more and more obvious the things I'd have to do to survive. I solemnly and silently nodded.

"But as far as everyone else goes, as long as you respect them and their property, it's not difficult to get to the end of the day without bullet wounds." She finished and leaned back against the bar.

I stared, eyes unfocused, into random space comprehending everything I had just heard to the best of my ability. It was a lot to take in. Jenny broke the silence after a minute or so.

"For the time being, I'd suggest just asking around town to see if anyone has any errands for you to do within good old Megaton. Save up for a good shooter and then maybe you can leave those gates and live to tell everyone about it. Also, lose your jumpsuit. There's not many things that peg you for someone who has no idea what they're doing, but a Vault jumpsuit is definitely one of them. Go see Moira at Craterside Supply, she goes nuts for eccentric stuff like that. I heard her talking about writing some kind of guide for surviving in the Wasteland and needs ad hoc field researches. Maybe she has something for you to do."

I thanked Jenny for the meal and the advice. I then took a half hour wandering around Megaton, half familiarizing myself with the layout and half looking for this Craterside Supply. As any building in Megaton could be considered "craterside" it took me a bit to find, but I found it in due time.

I walked into the dimly lit shop to see a woman who must be Moira crouched over a work bench in the corner with her back to the door. There was a disinterested but dangerous looking security guard on the other side of the room leaning against a wall smoking. He didn't look up when I walked in, just took a drag from his cigarette.

I spoke up "Moira?" The woman in the corner stood up quickly, and looked surprised.

"Ooh! A customer." she walked busily over to me. "What can I do for you on this fine day, stranger?" I could tell already that Moira was quite the character. Her blue coveralls were plastered in patches with a greenish ooze, the cuffs and sleeves of her top burned through in some spots. Her stunningly red hair was tied up and her entire demeanor was aloof. Despite having very obviously lived, survived, and thrived in the Wasteland, she was carefree and airy.

"Yes, for the time being, I need a change of clothes, something more Wasteland appropriate. Also, if you have any chores or errands for me to run around town, I could use the caps."

"Hmm, well, for your first request I have these clothes over here, feel free to poke through them to find something that fits."

I rummaged through the bins. Most of the clothes were threadbare, and there were many that smelled like they had just come off a dead person, they probably did, too. I found a pair of leather moccasins, pants, a heavy shirt made out of a wool-like material, and a pocket heavy vest. I changed into my new attire, which ended up fitting nicely. I handed her my old clothes.

"I'm sorry, I don't have any caps to pay you with, hopefully this will suffice?" I smiled and shrugged, offering my standard issue Vault-Tec jumpsuit and boots.

Her eyebrows shot up. "Is that a standard issue Vault-Tec jumpsuit? And the boots are included? Wow, it's not often that I see a complete set. And in such good condition- I don't know why you'd want to trade this in. Those tattered clothes aren't worth nearly as much as this beauty, but to each their own I guess. Here's a few caps to offset the value."

She reached into a drawer and gave me two handfuls of caps, probably somewhere between twenty and thirty. I put them in a large pocket on my vest. It felt good to have the local currency jangling around in my reserves.

"Will that be all for you today, stranger?"

"I was wondering if you had any jobs for me?" I repeated.

"Oh, right, silly me. So forgetful these days. I should be more careful with the repellant fumes... anyway, a job! Well, I'm ready to begin work on my book, the Wasteland Survival Guide. It's a great place to start for folk's like yourself who are unfamiliar with a new setting, but unfortunately, I've already got someone helping me with that. Or, well, it seemed like he was interested. Come back in a few days, I'll let you know if I need your help!"

I frowned, thanked her for her time and the trade. Outside in the light of the day, regarding my new wardrobe, I felt a little ridiculous. My tattered clothes felt so foreign after the custom tailored Vault jumpsuits. However, no one could deny that I appeared fully assimilated into Wasteland culture.

Jenny wasn't outside The Brass lantern when I passed by so I figured I'd investigate the other saloon in town Jenny mentioned, Moriarty's, which I was fairly certain was higher up in the crater. After a few false turns I finally ended up in the more attended of the town's two watering holes. It was rather full, with five or six customers scattered about. I took a seat to the left of the door, simply taking in the milieu.

Across the bar, I saw a shady character, by merit of the fact that he looked fantastically out of place in a nearly immaculate white suit, bowler hat and reflective silver glasses. He was chatting with an individual who looked familiar, but who's face or name I couldn't place. I shrugged it off and continued to lounge in the tattered armchair.

A man came over and introduced himself as Moriarty, the proprietor of this establishment. He asked if I'd be ordering something or if I planned on "continuing to freeload in his good armchair."

"What do you have to drink?" I asked.

"Booze, Cola, Water, coffee, pick your poison." he seemed to warm up to me once I told him I'd be spending money.

"Give me a beer." I had never had a beer. There was no alcohol in the Vaults, or at least none for the general inhabitants.

"Eight caps." he demanded. I doled out the requisite amount.

He brought back a beer and I sat there, drinking. I saw the enigmatic white suited man give the strangely familiar man a device the size of my closed fist. White suit pointed nondescriptly in space, outlined some directions on the face of his palm, and patted the stranger on the shoulder before striding out of the bar with a sly grin. I wasn't quite sure what I had just seen occur, but it made me feel uneasy.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

I sat in Moriarty's for a long time, mostly trying to connect a name with the face I had just seen. Perhaps the beer wasn't helping, I looked down to see that I had half a swig left. I drained it for good measure, left the bottle on the side table, and walked out into the waning daylight.

Down at the bottom of the crater, Jenny still wasn't outside The Brass Lantern so I went inside, There was another man who looked like an owner working the indoor eating area. He looked up from the glass he was polishing, or, trying to polish, and spoke to me.

"Can I help you stranger?" He spoke in an even tone, only half interested.

"Do you know where Jenny is?" I asked from across the empty bar.

"No, asshole, and it'd be best if you kept your hands off my little sister." He put his glass down and tried to look menacing; it worked.

"I just wanted t-" I was cut off.

"Get out of my bar." I obliged and walked back outside.

I walked to the common house where I spent the night, not really sure what to do with the rest of my evening. I found a tattered sofa along a secluded wall in the common house and sat down with a box of edible looking bits that I found lying unattended not far away. The food wasn't good. As far as I could tell it was some kind of cereal, but it was half finished and stale. I did my best not to think about the taste as I finished the box.

I ended up sitting on the couch for the rest of the evening, making occasional small talk with the stumblers that passed through. I turned in around nine and it took me a bit to get to sleep.

Once asleep, I had a dream of the night before I left the Vault. James and his son were heading back to their quarters after the day's work, they both looked exhausted, but James was unsettled. He looked like he was trying to stifle obvious worry, and he was doing a pretty good job. No one had any idea of his intentions, no one could have predicted the turmoil of the subsequent morning. Not even his son. His son...

I awoke to the exterior door slamming, someone was on their way out. There was a piece of paper on my forehead that slid to the floor as I awoke with a fright. There was no one else in the common house, and it was dark save for the moonlight that was filtering in through the patches in the roughly hewn metal.

I turned my Pip-Boy's light on, picked up the paper, and read the slanted, angular script.

_Tom,_

_It feels like it's been so long and yet we were in the vault together only three days ago. Why don't you come to Tenpenny Tower and we can catch up? Be here by 9am, it's a two hour journey southwest of Megaton, so leave early._

_-A friend from 101_

It was him! James' son! I can't believe I didn't recognize him in Moriarty's, he was clothed head to toe in tattered leather clothes like mine. I had literally never seen him outside a Vault 101 jumpsuit, and he was so out of place, a fragment from a life that I walked out of not too long ago. I sat for a moment, crumpled the paper, threw it to a corner, and started to get ready.

The sun had just risen when I left Megaton. By my Pip-Boy's clock, it was 7:30. Walking out around the Wasteland was a bit of a nerve wracking experience; between the Raiders that Jenny told me about and the overall fear of the unknown, I was on alert for anything besides the omnipresent silence of the open Wastes.

8:45. I saw what must be Tenpenny Tower off in the distance, but much closer was a stout pinkish creature, and it was running towards me. The strange animal pounced, and I was able to side step its clumsy assertion. It had three sharp teeth and was an overall ugly and mean looking brute standing waist high, and it looked hungry.

I unholstered the 10mm with a shaking but determined hand, grateful that I picked it up on the way out of Vault 101. I had never fired a gun before, but it didn't seem difficult. I fingered the trigger, aimed for the beast's head and squeezed. There was an explosion for which I was unprepared. The recoil peeled the gun from my hands and it landed a few feet from me. The creature drew back, seemed to screech, and then made a second less spirited pass at me. I scrambled for the gun. In my disarray the animal leaped atop me.

It began trying to bite the arm I was fighting it off with. I could feel its disgusting mouth on my arm when the fingers of my unencumbered arm finally curled around the metal I was looking for. With a firmer grip and no hesitation, I drew the gun to what appeared to be its temple and fired. Its gray matter was ejected to my left and it slumped on top of me. I set my gun down, mustered my strength, and rolled the beast off of me. I picked up my gun and noticed that I had soiled myself during the exchange. At least I wasn't dead. Still shaking a bit from the adrenaline and fear, I resumed my walk for the tower.

A stone's throw from the tower, everything around me was illuminated in a brilliant, transcendent light. There was then a literally deafening blast from behind me. A wall of heat and pressure flattened me before I had a chance to think or react. I was thrown face down into the dust. I could hear nothing but a high pitched whine of my own hopefully temporary deafness. I had no idea what just happened, but sat up, spit the ash and dust out of my mouth and turned just as the sun's light was enveloped in a mushroom cloud.

Before my mind assigned meaning to this particular mushroom cloud, I was transfixed by the symbolism. In my textbooks from school on the Great War, there were pictures of the atomic tests in the 20th century featuring these great mushroom clouds. They almost always followed an atomic blast, created by an atomic bomb.

Suddenly, my mind began lacing together the horrible conclusions from the disconnected parts I had just felt and witnessed. I went limp, I couldn't move, not because of the blast but because of the dark, horrible emotion that was gripping me. It was despair. It was the knowledge of good and evil, the realization that everything that was familiar and good, my first firm foothold in this new world, had just crumbled from beneath my unsteady foot.

I rolled over, I didn't want to look at it. I didn't want to look at the soot that was my new beautiful life fall from the sky. The soot that was Megaton. That was the Brass Lantern, Moriarty's. All the people. Moira. Lucas. Jenny...

The tears engulfed me. I wept, not with my eyes but with my entire body. I let out great moans, convulsing in the middle of the Wastes of death new and old. Megaton was destroyed and the souls that called it home were dead and gone, all in one mighty flash. I covered myself in the dust of the Wastes, wanting to become so low as to disappear.

I couldn't let myself slip entirely away. I couldn't fall all the way into despair, and after I had no more tears to cry I was silent. I laid there, not wanting to turn over and face the reality I now was forced to live. The first thing I saw when I finally was able to raise my head from sorrow and ash was the tower. My mind returned to the reason for my departure.

James' son. Could it be possible that he had knowledge of this? No, I couldn't let myself think that. It had to be a coincidence, it had to be. I couldn't lose the only stable thing left to me in the Wastes, I couldn't allow myself to entertain the thought that he knew about this. I pushed all pessimistic and perhaps pragmatic thoughts out of my mind- I forced myself to ignore his strange meeting with the white suited man, his hasty departure from the common house and Megaton this morning. I just needed to see my surprise and grief mirrored on his face when we met to know everything would be okay.

I arrived at the locked gate shortly thereafter. I was in complete emotional disarray and my appearance matched it. I still had the wet spot emanating from my groin, and I was covered head to toe in the blackened soil of the Wastes. I wouldn't be surprised if they turned me away on the spot.

I clicked on the intercom. "I need to get in..." I trailed off in a sigh. I was still a little winded and absolutely still disoriented and in shock.

A gruff voice came back through the intercom. "You are trespassing on Alistair Tenpenny's private property. Renters and official business only." The voice said with finality. I persisted.

"I'm here to see someone... uh, a man, probably just came in recently, early twenties, white... My name is Tom Holden."

"Oh, Tom? You're expected by our esteemed guest and newest resident. Please, come in."

I was confused. Esteemed guest? Resident? What had he done to get in with these seemingly elite types so easily and quickly? I'd have to ask him about it. I walked around and through the gate, finding the other end of the intercom and the owner of the gruff voice: an equally intimidating looking man.

"You'll find him right inside the tower, on your right, in the Federalist Lounge. He is expecting you."

The formality of the whole affair seemed a little odd to me. I ignored any dark premonitions that were beginning to surface and went inside the tower.

The tower was as opulent as could be expected in the Wasteland. As far as people go, I could tell that this was the opposite of Megaton. Where everyone in Megaton seemed to be so receptive and welcoming, I got the cold shoulder from everyone here, they were all wearing only mildly grimy clothing that looked from so long ago, from before the war. It's like they were trying to shelter themselves from the reality of the world they lived in and were not receptive of people that reminded them otherwise.

Once inside the Federalist Lounge, I looked around for the Vault dweller turned Wastelander I had seen in Moriarty's a few days ago. The only man present, wearing a sullied dark suit and Pip-Boy took notice of my confusion, and spoke from across the room. It was him.

"Tom, I'm very glad you decided to come, in light of recent events..." he trailed off and smirked. I was suddenly aware how backwards and wrong everything was and was going to become. I froze. "Come over here, sit down, there's so much I want to tell you."


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

I was too dazed to feel anything, to even move. I stood there for moments, hanging in physical and emotional space. My eyes managed to register him gesture for me to sit down. My legs obliged without my head giving the order. I floated over to the seat opposite him and sat down slowly, the whole time with the blankest of expressions on my face.

He started in first. "So Tom, it's been such a long time, or at least it's felt-"

I cut him off, "What happened?" I didn't inflect my voice or even look at him. It was almost a statement more than a question.

With a smug grin, he exhaled in what was almost a laugh and replied "Well, the atomic bomb in the center of Megaton blew up."

I looked him in his eyes for the first time, with an expression that was an equal mix of despair, confusion, and hurt. "Why? Why now? It's been over two centuries since the bombs fell and... the bomb... it hadn't gone off... and..." I trailed off. I was exasperated and was coming up empty where I was grasping for words.

He looked slightly taken aback. "Well I thought you could have figured that one out! I blew it up. I rigged it to explode and left town. Just be glad I saw you in Moriarty's, you would've been gone with the rest of that filth if I hadn't."

Slowly, my despair and confusion was beginning to well up inside me as anger. I fought to control my hands, my entire body, I kept myself in my seat. "That "filth" as you call it- those were my friends. Those were the only people I had." I was also vying to keep my voice at an even tone- I was trying not to shout.

He let out a pathetic high pitched laugh and spoke in a voice I was growing increasingly angry with "Why would you want to associate with them! You're from a Vault! You're so much better than them, and besides, I'm a little hurt. You have me! I got paid handsomely for speeding up the evolutionary process, weeding out the weak if you will. Why don't you share in my wealth? Come live with me, we can accomplish so"

I didn't let him finish. I moved in one fluid motion out of my seat, across the table, and wrestled him out of chair and onto the ground. I was acting as an animal, as the manifestation of the perfect rage that was spilling out of my thoughts and into my fists, into my legs. I drove foot and hand into him. I spoke, I roared.

"You devil! You Satan, you motherfucking prick! Those were people, that was life! You set the Wasteland back centuries! You're worse than the assholes who launched the bombs!"

The whole time he was cowering. Underneath his gusto, his bravado, he was a coward and it came out when I was literally trying to beat the hollow life out of his soulless shell. He would've been trying to get up if he wasn't pinned down. He'd be trying to talk if I hadn't already kicked his teeth in. I would've killed him if two guards didn't tackle me and knocked me unconscious.

When I came to, it was just before dawn, the sun was shooting out narrow rays piercing the darkness of night. I was completely nude except for my Pip-Boy and my hands were bound behind my back. I was being dragged by the elbows by two men on each side. They looked like the guards from the previous day. He was walking in front of me. I had no idea where we were.

After half an hour or so of them walking and me stumbling, trying to not cut up my feet, we seemingly arbitrarily stopped in the middle of nowhere. After surveying the Wastes for a few moments, James' son turned to me. The guard dropped me on the ground. I laid there.

He crouched down in front of me and sighed, then spoke. "I'm not a complete monster, you know. I won't kill you in cold blood here, it's not like your reaction was completely insane." He paused for a second, looked up around the wastes then back down at me. "It was just a little bit insane, considering all you're turning away from. Anyway, I'll leave you to the hands of the Wastes. Maybe if you're lucky some slavers will come across you. Goodbye Tom." He spit on my already dirty cheek, gave me a solid kick in the side for good measure and walked away with his guards.

I fought back the tears until I heard their footsteps fade all the way into the gentle wind that flowed across the Wasteland. I didn't want their last victory to be knowing that they broke my body and my spirit.

When I was positive they were gone, absolutely certain, I began to weep. The tears I cried were no longer for Megaton, they were for me. For the pathetic end I was about to meet. For my foolish, cocksure bravery when I left the Vault. They were all right. The Wastes were too much, the Overseer and his goons were right to keep us in. Keep us in our sheltered paradise, our bastion of perfection in a broken world.

Jenny crossed my mind as I waited to perish. The thought of her gave me comfort. More than that, it gave me strength. I thought about her love, her compassion for me in my fledgling state. I rolled over. I thought of her charity and her altruism. I sat up. With a supreme effort fueled by hope, hope that there was one soul like Jenny's still left in the Wastes, I moved into a kneeling position and stood.

I stood. Naked, bound, beaten, and broken but not destroyed, I stood in the sunrise over the Wastes. I let out a triumphant howl, my voice cracked and I coughed and sputtered. I was reborn from the evils of the Wastes. I had seen the worst a man could do, and the worst the Wasteland could do to a man. Corruption, greed, hatred and prejudice had tried to not only end my life but to destroy the good that was inside me and I stood, I stood in life and light, ready to make a change in the world that couldn't change me.

I strode, away from my point of self actualization, and towards nothing in particular. I didn't know what I was looking for, but was walking there with a newly found vigor.

After hours of this, though, my spirits were falling. All the nirvana in the world couldn't overcome fatigue and injury, and I was in sorry shape. I tried to find a level spot to rest my raw buttocks. I sat there, back turned to the road I was traveling on, surveying where I came from.

I began to do some figuring to attempt and ascertain my whereabouts. James' son had said Tenpenny tower was southwest of Megaton, and when I left in the morning, the sun was at my back. This means that the sun rose in the east, which is the direction I began walking, soon after taking a more southerly route. Currently the sun was trending towards the west, which was currently on my left. Since I hadn't seen anything familiar, Tenpenny tower included, this means that as far as I could tell, they had taken me northeast and I had ended up travelling due south. Which means that downtown D.C. wasn't far. I looked around and saw the Washington monument to the southeast. I decided to walk towards that.

After another hour of walking, I encountered what must be the Potomac river. It didn't look as it did in my history books though. The water was brown and the smell was overwhelmingly pungent, but I was too thirsty and depleted to not take my chances. I waded into the water and bent down to drink. The taste made me retch, I would've vomited if there was food in my stomach, but it was wet. I dipped my entire body in to get as much of the dirt off as possible. I was only mildly successful; the murky brown water dripped off my still grimy body and I smelled worse than I did before. I frowned and stumbled back onto shore to continue my journey to nowhere in particular.

Half an hour later, I saw the first person I had seen all day besides the three men to whom I owed my current predicament. They were on the other side of the Potomac, roughly as far as I was in the opposite direction from a bridge that marked halfway between us. I had no way of knowing if they were a friend or enemy, but at this point I wanted equally for someone to lead me to safety or to kill me.

Minutes later, as the person grew larger and we drew nearer, I saw that it was a female. As we walked towards each other, or at least each towards the bridge, her features became more and more vivid. When we were at opposite ends of the bridge, I could see her face. It was... it had to be a ghost. I ran at her, throwing all inhibitions of pain and nudity aside. It was Jenny.

She looked, as one would expect, taken aback at my bare and bound statement. She scrambled away from me, likely not recognizing me. I threw myself down in front of her.

"Jenny... it's so... unbelievable to see you... You're real... alive..." is all I managed to say before falling back into my tears of joy. "I need help. I need a doctor."

She stood, mouth agape momentarily, then shook her head and spoke. "Tom... that's... you, isn't it? Damn, you've had quite a day... Let's get you back to Megaton and get you all fixed up."

I raised my head and looked at her with a haunted, hollow expression. She didn't know... Her loss was so far greater than mine. Her family, her brother, the entirety of her life, the place that she had called home since birth was gone and she was blissfully unaware.

"We... we can't go back. I can't... I can't tell you here. Where did you come from?"

With raised eyebrow, she replied. "Rivet City... Why exactly can't we go back to Megaton?"

I was flustered. I couldn't tell her here, not in the middle of nowhere. Besides, I was hurt bad. I tried my best to convince her.

"Jenny, we need to go to Rivet City, and I need a doctor, soon. I'm really, hurt badly. I'll explain everything once I get fixed up."

She sighed, crossed her arms, and looked around angrily. I could tell she thought I was acting completely irrationally, but wasn't budging on the matter. She reminded me of my wife when I was trying to convince her to leave the Vault. 

"Okay. Okay, fine. But you owe me a damn good explanation of everything when you're feeling better. Let's go." She helped me to my feet and we set off for Rivet City.

It was a long walk even from the bridge. An hour down the road, the pain from my midsection was becoming almost unbearable. I had a massive headache from dehydration and was almost starving, having not eaten since the half box of stale cereal almost two days ago. Jenny was pointing off towards in the distance and saying something about Rivet City.

I was mildly delirious and looked up through heavy eyelids hanging low over my eyes, eyelids that I was fighting to keep open for fear that I'd pass out. All I could see was a towering mass of metal, more organized than Megaton was, springing out of the Potomac. It seemed purpose built and was probably pre-war, judging by the sophistication of the entire affair. It registered that Jenny was talking through an intercom and there was a large gantry swinging forward before us.

The last thing I remembered before I passed out was Jenny's tears and a guard coming over to help drag my now limp body into what I hoped was Rivet City.


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

I faded back into consciousness in the quiet corner of what appeared to be a mostly makeshift but decidedly permanent clinic. Taking stock of the situation, I was clothed largely in bandages with a particularly constrictive dressing securing my midsection. An attempt to sit up from my grimy gurney yielded a splitting pain emanating from my ribcage, several members of which were very likely bruised or broken. I resorted to lifting just my head up to view the infirmary, which resulted in minimal and manageable pain.

Jenny was slumped in a chair at the foot of my bed. Her hand propped her head against the arm of the firm metal chair. Her face seemed troubled, like she lapsed into unconsciousness with frustration over my lack of improvement spread across her face and had not yet found a more serene expression. I had no idea how long I was out, but I felt it was safe to assume that Jenny was by my side for large portions of that time, either for desire to know more about the puzzling situation and to scold me for my foolishness, or perhaps for general concern of my well being. Either way, I was glad for her comforting presence.

I succumbed to gravity and let my head down back onto the musty pillow. I was idly counting the bolts on the ceiling and taking labored breaths when a man in a white lab coat touting a clipboard and a studious expression walked in. He seemed to be the doctor, and was surprised at my awakened state.

"My God, you're up already!" The doctor placed his clipboard down on a table aside instruments once shimmering silver but now a marginally polished gray. He rushed to my side. "With your injuries and your poor condition when you were dragged in here, I didn't think you were going to make it... it was looking bad for a while there, but I figured it'd be at least another few days... Anyway, how do you feel?"

I began forming words, but my voice didn't come to me at first. It cracked, and I tried to fight it but then coughed and sputtered, sending pangs of pain through my ribcage. I subdued the spasm and calmed myself, then ironically lied "Fine. I'm just glad I made it."

In the brief commotion, Jenny was roused from her slumber. I saw her outstretched arms extend from behind the mounds of tourniquets and dressings. I elevated my head high enough and long enough to see her yawn, wipe the tired from her eyes, and then turn to look at me. She smiled a relieved and joyful smile, and I let my head drop as she rose from her chair to speak to me.

"God, Tom, it's so good to see that you made it through." I opened my mouth but she placed one finger over it silencing me. She grinned and said "Don't try and talk now, just focus on getting better. But then you owe me a damn good story, got it?" I fell quiet and remembered the awful news that I held. I had no idea if the denizens of Rivet City knew about Megaton's fate, but from Jenny's cheerful demeanor I assumed she had not yet heard.

Over the next week or so, the doctor, Jenny and I focused on my recovery. I was in bed for three more days and then started to take the first few weak and uneasy, but unassisted steps. A week and a half after first waking up, I was hobbling my way through the narrow corridors and passageways of Rivet City.

Jenny and I sat one day in a cafe in the marketplace of Rivet City. She had bought Nuka Colas for the two of us to celebrate my recovery. As we sat there sipping our beverages, I talked with her for the first time about the events after I blacked out.

"So, Jenny, I passed out halfway onto the bridge to the ship. What happened exactly?"

Jenny thought for a moment and replied. "Well, the guards helped me get you onto the ship." She paused for a moment, looked down and half laughed, as someone does who is remembering something objectively trivial but still decidedly emotional. "Well they did all the work. I was... I was really nervous for you and would've been in the way if I had kept dragging you..." I prompted her to continue with an interested look and a nod.

"They brought you immediately to the clinic, where they broke your cuffs and cleaned you up a bit, so they could get a better look at you. Two of your ribs were fractured, your legs were really badly scraped and cut, and you were dehydrated, starving, and irradiated. So, overall, in pretty rough shape. And you stunk. Smelled like absolute shit."

"Yeah, I tried washing myself off in the Potomac."

"Won't be doing that again, will we?" She smiled with one eyebrow raised. I nodded in agreement and she continued.

"Well, they had to give you a lot of chemicals to flush the radiation out of your system and to prevent infection. They bandaged your legs and gave you a brace for your ribs. This wasn't all for charity, by the way." She sighed.

I hadn't thought about all the money this would cost. I grimaced and replied "how much are we in the hole?"

Jenny blushed, and replied "We'll worry about the money later... just don't stumble up to me naked and beaten from the middle of the Wastes again, okay?" she placed her hands atop mine and looked genuinely worried. I placed my free hand atop hers.

"I promise. I'm sorry I gave you such a reason to worry." She sighed, retracted her hands, and looked away.

"Just, don't do it again."

* * *

The next morning, Jenny got me up early in the morning. By my Pip Boy's clock it was five. She said she had a surprise for me, but I had to get up right this instant. I voiced my protest with a drowsy grunt, but got out of my bed. I followed her through what felt like miles of corridor and up several flights of stairs. Eventually, when we must have been very high in the towering structure, higher than I remembered the ship being tall on our first approach, we snuck past two sleeping guards and out into the receding night.

We must have been a hundred feet in the air. In the first glimpses of daylight and the lingering moonlight I could make out the devastated Washington, who's buildings were now mere piles of rubble and steel frames punctuating the heaps of pulverized concrete and twisted metal. The fetid water of the Potomac still ambled down the rocky shoreline. The murky waves lapped lazily against the scorched earth.

Jenny spoke. "I heard from one of the residents that you could get up here really in the morning before the guards woke up and see the still brilliant sunrise. I, you know, wanted to bring you with me once you were better."

We sat in silence for a brief moment, then I spoke "Well, thank you, it's beautiful up here."

There was again, silence. In farthest reaches of audible space one could hear the occasional gunshot, but there was almost total silence at the pinnacle of Rivet City. I knew that I had to tell her my story, and now a good a time as any. I let out a long sigh.

"Jenny, it's time for you to hear the story of how I got here." I said it without emotion and didn't look at her until I finished my sentence.

"Megaton- I know... Megaton is gone. The bomb went off. I just know that much." She didn't seem distressed about it at all. I gave her a quizzical look.

"Jenny, how did you find out? You haven't been back to-"

"I saw it all over your face that something awful had happened when I found you by the Potomac. That and your insistence to return here- I'm not stupid. A traveler confirmed my suspicions the first night after you arrived here."

"But your whole family, Megaton, everyone you know is gone."

She shrugged and spoke "We lived in post-apocalyptia in a town built around an undetonated atomic bomb. I had been preparing myself for that moment my entire life, except in my head I died with Megaton. I just need to be glad that I wasn't there and move on- that's the only way to survive in this world..." she trailed off and tried to force nonchalant. She was either truly unfazed by the death of almost everyone she knows, or doing a very good job masking her emotions. By the look on her face I suspected it was the latter.

She continued after a pause. "But that doesn't explain why you weren't there, or why I found you naked and cuffed wandering along the Potomac."

I collected my thoughts, ordered the scattered events in my head, and detailed my journey through the Wastes. I started with Moriarty's and waking up to find the note. I gave her a play by play of my trip to Tenpenny Tower, including my gallant fight against the stout pink brute. She interjected that that was called a Mole Rat. I continued to chronicle my encounter with the other former occupant of Vault 101 and the fight that got me thrown out into the Wasteland. I left out the part about her being my motivation to rise from the ashes physical and metaphorical, but didn't fail to slightly exaggerate my tale and struggle in hopes of impressing Jenny.

Brows raised in response to the account of my odyssey, she replied "Wow, you've really seen a lot of the shit of the Wastes in a short amount of time. I'm just, well I'm just glad you're here. Being alone would kind of suck." She laid her head on my shoulder, and I brought my arm around her. She moved in close, our bodies pleasantly meeting and we sat. We sat watching the sun, now well above the horizon, cast its rays out of over the Wastes. This was the happiest I'd ever been since leaving the Vault, and perhaps in my entire life.

Twenty minutes later, we heard hushed and hurried footsteps to the door. A guard emerged from the door with his back turned to us, eyes looking for a potential pursuer. Not seeing anyone, he breathed a sigh of relief and turned to what he thought was a deserted precipice. Seeing us, he jumped back an inch, let out a yelp and quickly put on airs of authority after his obvious intrusion into somewhere where he wasn't, or thought he wasn't, supposed to be.

He cleared his throat and spoke uneasily at first, with incrementally more conviction of the privileges of his position. "Ahem. Citizens! This area is off limits to... uh, citizens! If you'll come this way, I'll escort you back to the living areas of Rivet City."

Jenny and I exchanged smiles and got up. I decided to have some fun with this officer of the peace. "Please sir! Don't hurt us, we'll come willingly, just don't shoot!" I knew it probably wasn't a good idea to tease the only person holding a gun in this exchange, but I doubt he was going to hurt us.

"Good! Just, walk over here and we'll go back down to the marketplace level. No funny business." This officer clearly posed no threat. With a smiles and our hands mockingly in the air, Jenny and I began our descent into the lower levels of Rivet City.

On our way down, we met a distinguished but still earthy looking fellow (he wasnot like the residents of Tenpenny Tower) who introduced himself as Bannon. He explained that although Rivet City had no central leader, there was a group of individuals who met to discuss all administrative business, and that he was a member of this council. He told the security guard that he had done a good job, and, receiving Bannon's praise the security guard seemed to light up and then compose himself, giving a salute and then half marching half shuffling off. Bannon smirked and directed us to his office.

Bannon was still slightly grinning when we all sat down on opposite sides of his small and empty desk save for a lamp and scant few papers. "That guard, he's not the sharpest knife in the drawer and he takes his job much to seriously. He gets the brunt end of a lot of jokes." He gave a final laugh, cleared his throat and started into the official business. "Anyway, I've called you both in here because as I'm sure you know," he gestured to Jenny "and you've been made aware of or understand now," he gestured to me "you've incurred a great amount of debt that neither of you were able to pay off. As such, we are prepared to let you both work off the debt until it has been paid in full."

I spoke "Bannon, if I may ask, how much do we owe you?"

Bannon tried to pull a number from his head. After a few moments of silence, he procured his reading glasses and took one of the sheets of paper off his desk. "Between the stimpaks, Med-X, expertise of our doctor, and time in the clinic, your bill comes to twelve hundred caps." He paused, let the number sink in, and laid the paper down and folded his hands. "It's hardly an insurmountable debt, but you will be living on the ship and either running errands or helping out with maintenance until we've been reimbursed. We have a room for you two, as you may be here a while. I'll show you to it now."

We walked out of his office, down several flights of stairs and ended up in an unoccupied room not far from the marketplace. There was a desk, a chest, coat rack, chair and... a single double bed.

I blushed, and Bannon noticed. "I figured you two were a couple! If the sleeping arrangements aren't satisfactory-" Jenny cut in.

"They're wonderful, thanks for your surpassing generosity. My husband isn't used to such a nice bed, he thought you were mocking us." Bannon raised an eyebrow. It was a pretty lame excuse, but she was on the spot. He wished us a good day and left.

He shut the door on the way out and we were alone. Jenny realized that she had toed and awkward line and after the briefest pause excused herself "to go explore the ship." She said "that I should settle in" because "well, we'll be here a while."

I sat down and examined my new and hopefully more permanent quarters. It appeared that it had been a store room of sorts when the ship was serving its original purpose. Standing up and arbitrarily stepping off the room, it was four paces wide by thee paces deep, and quite cramped. I idly adjusted the various fixtures of the room with no real effect other than making me feel like this room was somehow more my own.

I returned to the chair that was lodged in the back right corner of the room and began to ponder the question I figured I was avoiding. I really liked Jenny, but what she said just hit me so suddenly. I suppose I was still technically married, but we were at this point separated by life experience and opinion, but most obtrusively a two ton metal door. I lamely decided to just see how the situation would pan out, not interested in investing the effort to plan anything besides continue as normal.

I sighed and put my feet up on the footboard of the bed. Although I had only been up for two hours, I inadvertently drifted to sleep in the metal box which was quickly turning into a home.


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

It was early the next morning when I got my first job working towards the repayment of my medical debt. I was laying awake in bed, Jenny at my side, when I heard a soft tap on the enormous metal slab we called a door. I got out of bed being careful not to disturb Jenny and quickly got dressed. I slipped as quietly as I could out of the hatch and closed it with an only mildly grating din.

Outside my door, a security guard was dutifully waiting for me, hands crossed behind his back, eyes out. Upon my arrival, he turned and said "follow me." and began to walk off. I obliged.

We ended up in the administrative section of the ship, lower on the same tower that Jenny and I had been brought down from yesterday. The guard brought me in on a meeting already in progress. He gestured for me to take a seat just inside the door and slightly removed from the meeting. There was a crude map of the Wasteland obscured by the broad shoulders of several security guards and a man who appeared to be the leader was pointing to it with a section of pipe serving as a pointer.

"We'll follow the Potomac up north until we hit the remains of Arlington Memorial Bridge, then we'll cross and continue to follow it northwest. We'll then cut inland a ways downstream from Arefu, at which point raider activity will likely pick up even more so than it was along the Potomac. Keep your guns loaded, men. Get your shit and assemble in twenty minutes in the staging area. Dismissed!" The leader punctuated his orders with one final smack of the pipe on the table. He laid it down and walked away from the table, at which point all the men who were seated one by one got up and began filing out the door through which I had come. One of them tapped me on the elbow and gestured to follow him.

"I'm Joas, and I'm going to be making sure your ass isn't killed out there." Joas said with a smile and extended hand. Joas was a head taller than me, black, and although he wasn't muscular, he didn't look weak in any respect. I shook his hand, and I followed him to the armory where everyone was getting suited up.

"Here, put this stuff on and take this gun." Joas handed me body armor with several bullet hole shaped pieces of material missing and a gun that was held together largely with tape. "We give that shit to all the new recruits, hopefully you won't have to use either of them."

I thanked Joas for the armor and gun, and after donning the ill fitting armor and slinging the gun over my shoulder, I followed the security team to the front of the ship. The "staging area" as I heard it referred to before was a makeshift platform that provided a steps from the ground by the river bank up to the end point of the leviathan swing bride that extended from the ship. There were guards posted here along with some lockers and a large platform to assemble the shipment.

Joas was explaining to me on the way down that although Rivet City avoided the production of goods, they would aide in the shipment and protection of large loads of wares across the Wasteland, along with storing anything people needed stowed in Rivet City's copious amount of storage space. They also stockpiled and sold off any guns that its residents or security personnel found while out in the Wastes. This was all for a steep price, and it's how Rivet City paid the guards and kept its internal economy stable, even with the rarity of transportation jobs.

"Today," Joas continued "we're shipping medical supplies and guns to the kids in Little Lamplight. I have no idea how those kids can afford all this stuff" he gestured to the three heavily packed Brahmin "but you really can't forge a cap, so we sell it to them. The guns are from our supplies, mostly shit Flak doesn't want to sell that was picked off dead raiders, and the medical supplies are from the labs at the Citadel. We're keeping most of the profit today, with about a 30% cut going to the Brotherhood for all the chems."

"Soldiers! Attention!" The leader from the planning room was standing in front of the Brahmin, who were restlessly shifting their weight and kicking at the ground, each of their two heads aimlessly looking for food they weren't going to find.

"We will be moving out shortly. Remember to keep your guns loaded and stay at attention at all times! As soon as we cross the Arlington Memorial Bridge, expect raider activity to increase tenfold as we will be out of Brotherhood patrolled land. Remembered to protect the Brahmin above your brother- if they go down you're carrying this shit! Move out!"

The security team turned caravan guards began to methodically move forward. The mood in the air was of routine alertness- everyone had a look of practiced and repetitive intensity. It was bold and not nervous, not like they were marching into the unknown.

I prodded Joas for more information fifteen minutes up the road. "How often do you guys do this?"

"Every month or so. We did two within three weeks once, that wasn't fun. It eats up a lot of resources and we have to leave the ship unguarded for almost atwo days."

Two days. We'd be staying overnight. "How do you find time to sleep? Wouldn't raiders be more keen on striking during the night?"

Joas chuckled. "We don't sleep on these. I hope you got a good night's rest last night, because you're going to be up for a while."

I thought back to my largely restless night back in my bed in Rivet City which was steadily shrinking on the horizon behind us.

* * *

Half an hour after crossing the Arlington Memorial Bridge, our leader told us to assume defensive positions as a scouting group traveling several hundred feet in front of the caravan had spotted a raider group. We chose an alley marked off between a large retainer wall and a nearby building to store the Brahmin in. They restively followed the herders into a narrow opening underneath a concrete cantilever that partially shielded them from view from above.

We then took our positions, half the group moving against the retainer wall and the other half crossing the street, closer to the Potomac from which we had slightly strayed to follow the most navigable terrain, to a skeleton of a building. Joas was towards the back of the group assigned to the retainer wall, and he placed me close to the Brahmin, which was the safest spot. He was a stone's throw away and I still had a decent view of the action, which I waited intently for, my eyes fixed on the horizon framed by the winding road the ran through our defenses and a section of elevated highway seemingly waiting for the proper provocation necessary for its submission to the unyielding force of gravity.

I now saw the nervousness that was likely stifled at our outset beginning to show itself in the soldiers in various ways. Joas was impatiently fiddling with his gun, making sure the clip was fully inserted and idly toggling the safety. There was a soldier attempting to alternate taps on the grip of his gun and his foot on the ground, but it ended up just looking like shaking. There was another that had his eyes closed and looked to be half mouthing words as if he were in prayer.

Then the first gunshot broke all need for nervous tics. Each man snapped into his various levels of training, expertise, and practice. The men against the retaining wall cascaded out into the alleyway, all of them fanning out to get a view of road in front of us without blocking the view of the man behind them. The men on the other side of the road with their backs on the pillars that once supported the building above them turned to face the enemy, crouching partially behind cover.

And then the raiders came. Their approach was baffling, sending a group of three raiders running into the sights of almost every member of the Rivet City Security. A terse cacophony of the sharply percussive cracks of gunfire filled the arena comprised of buildings and the retaining wall. All three raiders dropped before the echoes of gunfire had been lost to the silence of the Wastes. There was a cautionary pause lasting a minute, and the group of soldiers opposite us moved to collect the weapons of the raiders and confirm death.

I unclenched my muscles, not realizing that I was so physically on edge. The soldiers who were in the alleyway also relaxed, standing up and breaking formation.

There was again gunfire, and in the collective state of unpreparedness everyone recoiled and panicked before anyone could ascertain where the shots had come from or even the people who'd fired them. I reflexively looked to the center of the street to see one of our men clench his arm and fall to the ground while the remainder of the men bolted back towards the building. A bullet caught one of the guards in the foot and he hobbled back to the temporary safety of the long abandoned building.

The raiders were more intelligent in their approach then we had given them credit, and it had just cost at least one security guard his life as second bullet dealt a decisively fatal blow to the reeling guard in the middle of the road. From the sounds I was hearing and security members on my side of road flattening against the building rather than the retaining wall, I deduced that the first three raiders were intended to draw us out and vulnerable, and at this point a larger group of raiders was coming from behind.

I had no idea how many raiders there were on the other side of the building, but from their cackles and swearing that resonated about, I suspected that there were enough to be a serious threat. I moved to a crouching position and quickly tried to get in a comfortable situation to fire from, should it be necessary to fire the gun that was given to me.

A raider had circled the battle a second time hoping to get an edge on the security team, attacking from the position that we were originally defending against. I saw him low on the retaining wall, eying the group of guards against the wall of the building that were waiting for their turn to defend the shipment or die trying. I watched as he carefully chose a target, sizing up each member of the defense. He was completely focused on his prey and didn't notice me hugging the wall, trying to stay low and out of sight.

He shouldered his rifle, and I instinctively drew mine. I was hoping against hope it wasn't Joas' head that he had downrange in his sights, and I couldn't let myself stand by while he easily picked someone off. I drew my breath, aimed as well as I was able to through the crooked and deformed sights, and fired.

The shot was not particularly accurate, and the first shot hit him on the knee. He dropped his rifle and let out a shriek, his arms grasping for the joint that had burst and was now spewing blood as his heart forced more and more blood to a limb that was no longer attached. The second which inadvertently followed it (the rifle being automatic) hit him in the forearm. At this point he had lost his balance and tumbled twenty feet, face first into the broken concrete. He lay completely still, his crumpled body slowly being framed in a crimson pool. I was transfixed by it.

Joas, hearing the shots, ran around to my position. "What the hell are you shooting at?" I blankly pointed at the broken body of the raider face down in his own blood.

"He was going to shot us from behind, wasn't he?" I nodded, eyes still fixed on the dead body. "You did good Tom, we'll talk later. These bastards have no chance."

It was several minutes before I was able to look away from the man I had just killed. Although I distinctly remember the moment after I killed the Mole Rat, this was so much different. I had just been the catalyst of the conclusion of a life, of the end of a story that started long ago and ended minutes ago by my hand. There before me lied the shell of a life that had grown from infancy to adulthood, and now was no more. I attempted to force myself to stop thinking about it, but wasn't very successful. I suspected this memory would be with me until my death, by natural causes or at the hands of another man, perhaps a man like the one I had just killed.

In my pondering I hadn't noticed the firing cease. Joas walked around the corner, hands in the air. His face was contorted in anger and fear, and he was being escorted by a raider with a gun pressed hard against his neck, followed closely by five more raiders.


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Joas and I were each bound and escorted along with the caravan of brahmin that the raiders had commandeered. We couldn't really speak freely as the Raiders were always within audible distance of us, so most of the journey was spent in disconcerting silence. This silence was broken occasionally by the insults the raiders threw back and forth at each other, but apart from the rare arguing over which direction they were headed, the raiders were silent.

We followed the Potomac for several hours, eventually finding a spot that was adequate to cross. We then took a more northwards route, soon stopping to camp under a quickly receding sun. Both we and the brahmin were tethered to an immovable twist of rebar that was protruding from a chunk of concrete extending form the ground. We were effectively in place for the rest of the night, unless we found a sharp hacksaw and found the time to saw through the half inch thick steel.

As the raiders lit fires and erected temporary shelters, we tried to find a comfortable position to sit. The entire camp was on a slight incline, with a shell of a building that we were tethered to uphill from the camp, which was 20 or so feet from our temporary prison. As all the raiders slowly found a suitable position to fall asleep in, there were two raiders that stood at opposite ends of the camp across from us, a good 50 feet away. While they ensured that we would not be able to escape and no one would attack them during the night, they were far enough away to ensure that relatively hushed conversation would not be overheard.

"Intelligence was never the raider's strong suit." I let out a quick sigh that would've been a laugh in any other setting. How Joas managed to joke in a situation that seemed so dire was beyond me.

"What do you make of this situation, Joas?" I formed the words around exhales, whispers so carefully formed as to reach Joas' ear and no one else.

"Well it's obvious that they want us for something. If not, they would've killed us along with everyone else. If they were slavers or working for slavers, we'd have been mezzed and be walking to Paradise Falls with slave collars on. So, I don't know. Worst case scenario is that they want to take us back to their base to torture and then kill us for entertainment. Raiders are sadistic motherfuckers." Joas finished his statement with a solemn sigh.

Joas wasn't exactly calming my nerves, and I was terrified but trying to maintain airs of nonchalant. I knew it wouldn't help in the long run, and with Joas and the Brahmin being the only people that could hear me, I decided to let my guard down a bit.

"Joas, I'm really scared. I don't want to die, not like this."

"Me neither, kid. We'll figure it out. Let's just, let's get some sleep in the mean time. We aren't going anywhere." Joas dishearteningly shook his bound hands, rustling the dirt around wire we were affixed to the rebar with.

I sighed, shrugged, and tried to settle into a comfortable position against the largely pulverized concrete slab. There was always something digging into my back or legs no matter how I shifted my weight, but somehow my exhausted body lapsed into slumber.

I woke up what felt like an hour later by a firm but not crippling blow to the chest with the butt of a raider's rifle. Joas was roused from slumber in a similar fashion. The sun was just beginning to emerge from below the horizon and all the raiders were already up and tearing down camp.

We and the brahmin were cut from the rebar and assembled into a caravan formation, with Joas and me alongside the brahmin and flanked by two raiders on either side. We picked up the route from yesterday, continuing north. It was another two hours of walking until we reached our destination.

Poking forth from outcroppings of charred rock were three decrepit, yet majestic satellite dishes stretching into the sky. They were roughly the height of Rivet City's peak, and yet seemed to reach so much higher into the gray sky. The dishes, long since destroyed past function, were missing many of the panels that comprised the inverted dome.

It was clear that the raiders were now occupying this station, made evident by the graffiti covering the first few feet of the sloping concrete sides, the raiders patrolling along the walkways that wove in and out of the towers. Finally and most horrifying was the carcasses that hung from hooks. The decapitated, dismembered corpses left to rot in cages hanging from the edges of the dishes. Even a couple hundred of feet away, I was beginning to smell the noxious aroma.

Waves of adrenaline entered my blood from the fear that my body, destroyed beyond any hope of recognition, would soon be among those on the horrible hooks. I slowed, retarded by the fear and despair. A raider drove the barrel of his rifle into my neck and growled at me.

"Keep walking, shit stain."

I tried and failed to stifle a whimper, and I hoped beyond hope that the raider didn't hear me. I continued to walk towards the satellite dishes and didn't hear anything, it seemed that I had escaped being exposed as the weak coward I felt like on the inside now. Joas attempted to give me a sympathetic look and was pistol whipped for it, after which he fixed his eyes on the road ahead of him.

We reached the door of the complex and paused while the Brahmin were fastened to a firm post. Once inside, three raiders already inside sprung into action, guns drawn, shouting to what must be other raiders above them that they were being attacked. The raider that was leading us put his hands up.

"Don't shoot, it's us shit for brains."

"Fuck you man, give us some warning."

"Do I need to give a warning to walk into my own goddamn base with the goddamn prisoners I was told to get?"

"For fuck's sake, just knock next time."

"What kind of pussy clubhouse are you running with secret knocks and shit?"

"Fuck you!"

The belligerent raider flipped off the leader, and was we walked by the leader punched him in the gut and then kicked him while he was doubled over. He fell to the ground, and the leader spit on him and walked across the room to stairs that wound up through the center of the tower.

Several of the other raiders that had been in the caravan wandered off, which left the leader, Joas, myself, and another raider behind us. The tower was musty and slightly chilly, and there was a draft that kept the smell of rotting flesh from becoming unbearable. The sight of corpses run completely through with meat hooks hanging from the ceiling was bad enough from far away, but as we followed the stairs to the top of the chamber it was surreal and nauseating to see them two feet in front of us as we passed by. The raiders ignored the gore and spoils of brutality, to them it was simply part of the décor.

We wound in an out of the towers, crossing one at a time a rickety bridge comprised of several planks spanning the gap between the radio dishes. I considered jumping to my death, hoping to avoid the torture that I had now convinced myself lay ahead. However, I put one foot in front of the other until we had finally arrived in a chamber that appeared to be the living quarters of the raiders. There was a man cutting up what sickeningly appeared to be a human torso. The raider leader halted us a few feet behind this man, and respectfully waited for him to finish his grotesque work. Finally when he stopped and turned around, the caravan leader spoke.

"Boss, we've got these two from the caravan like you-"

"I know who these are, you stupid shit. You know what to do next." There was the briefest flash of pain as my head felt like it was rent apart and then there was blackness.

* * *

When I woke up, the first thing I noticed was a collar around my neck that was all but suffocating me. I was able to take mildly labored breaths, and although I didn't feel like I was fighting to remain conscious I knew that any physical strain would be next to impossible. Not that I'd be going far, as I had been placed inside one of the cages I'd seen hanging from the dishes. Except, I had not seen whole people but skeletons occupying these cages. My fate looked grim.

I looked around to see Joas standing nearby, with a collar similar to mine but unbound and unguarded. The raider that stood between us, seeing that I had woken up, began to speak.

"Well, now that your friend is up I'll explain this to you again. You've both been fitted with slave collars, and in a week they'll explode no matter where you are. With just this shitty water," the raider threw a dirty bottle of water at me. I was completely dehydrated, and began to greedily consume it. It was disgusting and irradiated, but it was the first thing I'd had to drink in almost two days "your friend won't have near that long."

I stopped and looked at the remaining quarter bottle of water. It hadn't occurred to me to ration it.

The raider continued, looking at Joas. "We want you to return to us with Harkness, the police chief at Rivet City. He's a fucking coward and scurried off during our raid. Bring us him alive and we'll set you and your friend free. Or don't, and you'll both be dead. I don't give two shits, this was Boss's idea."

Joas solemnly nodded and began walking off. I shouted.

"Joas, wait!"

I was just able to see him dejectedly turn around before the raider kicked my cage off the side of the dish, at which point I fell ten feet before the tether caught. The wires comprising the cage dug into my skin, the bottle of water fell from my lap and hit the ground after a few seconds. I yelled in pain as the cage slowly swung from the chain.

Joas was peeking over the edge and began to shout words that I couldn't decipher through din of the many pains that felt like they were tearing my body apart.

"Get the fuck out of here! You barely have enough time as it is, dumbass." The raider shouted over the pain, Joas walked off, and I sat in my prison, terrified and completely alone.


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

The first few hours were the hardest. After five minutes of trying to sort out my predicament, I determined that I would be suspended in this cage until I died or was lifted back to the satellite dish. There was no possibility of escape, even if I was in peak physical condition, and I was far from that. I was bloodied from where the bars of the cage had cut into my skin, bruised from the constant beating of the raiders, I was becoming increasingly dehydrated and was already severely hungry.

After that, my thoughts drifted. I was too exhausted to think about anything, to consider the poetic value of my situation. I didn't want to think about how the Wasteland had gotten the better of me, or think about Jenny or my wife or the Vault or anything in my past or present life because none of that could help me. I was dangling in a cage off of a dilapidated satellite dish and the only thing that could save me was the altruism of a group of people who amused themselves by arranging the mutilated corpses of their enemies.

I did think of Joas. I thought of the mission he had been given and the possible reasons why the raiders wanted Harkness. I couldn't come up with anything of substance, but I figured it had something to do with the leader of the raiders. The leader seemed different, or at least more intelligent than the rest of the raiders. He was a monster like the rest of the raiders, but he at least seemed to have some agenda. I started imagining what he might want Harkness alive for, but the pain of hunger took priority.

For a while, the hunger pangs washed out anything else I'd attempt to think. I'd start wondering if Joas had had enough time to get to Rivet City by now, and then I'd grimace as my stomach seemed to be collapsing on itself. I'd wonder if anyone had told Jenny that no news had come back from the convoy, and that we'd probably been killed, then I'd grimace as the pain grew sharper, more demanding.

Then it stopped, or rather, I didn't stop being hungry but it seemed like my body had given up hope. The pain abated, and more than anything I became incredibly weak. It wasn't like I was animated before, but it seemed that at this point I couldn't move if I wanted to.

By my best estimates, it was five days until there was any change in my lot. It was incredibly hard for me to keep track of time, as I faded in and out of consciousness, periods of consciousness spent only wondering how long it would be until I couldn't keep my eyes open any more and if this would finally be the last time that I'd have to open my eyes. All this ended in five days, when my cage was lifted up to the dish.

Upon reaching the lip of the dish, the cage was opened and I was unceremoniously dumped from my prison onto the inside of the dish. I didn't make any effort to roll over or to make any indication that I was alive other than to continue breathing.

"Alright kid, let's get you fixed up." Joas spoke to me. He unfastened my handcuffs and unlocked my slave collar. He then helped me roll over onto my back, poured some moderately clean water into my mouth which I barely managed to swallow. Regaining what little strength I had left, I grabbed at the bottle and began to greedily swallow the bottle. Joas took the bottle away from me after a second and I immediately felt sick and vomited most of the water.

"Pace yourself, you're still really weak. Let's get out of here, you're going to have to get on my shoulders, we'll get you better though, let's go."

I half nodded, and did what I could to climb onto his back and be carried out of the satellite dish and out into the Capital Wasteland.

I couldn't recall any of our journey, how he carried me, or why we got out of there safely, but I woke up in a bed, seemingly safe, feeling a bit better but alone. I tried to sit up but couldn't find the strength, but was able to inspect the room a bit.

It was an underground chamber strung with lights on wires laced around the stalactites. There was a network of slipshod paths and platforms around the cavern, with various furnishings all about; tables, chairs, shelves, and beds. I wasn't completely alone, and as I looked around more, I noticed that there were, it appeared to be, children around the cavern. I saw one leave, and in a moment returned with Joas, who came to my bedside and pulled up a chair.

"Tom, let me answer as many questions that I can guess are on your mind so you don't have to talk."

I nodded and prompted him to continue.

"We're in Little Lamplight caverns, the original destination for the caravan. You've been shot up with a couple of Stimpaks but you're still need lots of water and food, and your wounds need some time to heal. We made it out because I brought Harkness back to the satellite array. I met Harkness on his way to Rivet City. That's one weird guy, and he must be batshit crazy. I don't know why he wasn't back at Rivet City or why he came with me so willingly. I can only assume those Raider bastards are going to kill him though, and at this point I don't care. You and I got out safe, so that's that."

He finished his spiel and sat back in his chair. I attempted to say a few words, and they mostly came out. "So when can we get out of here? I want to see Jenny".

He smiled and shot back "Man, get the chick off your mind for a bit. You just spent five days in a cage and all you can think about is your woman. Get some sleep and we'll be out of here as soon as you're walking. These kids hate us anyway."

I smiled and settled back into bed. 

* * *

It was a week in and out of bed before I felt strong enough to make the journey back to Rivet City. We set out on the route originally marked out backwards, and on the entire journey (which was often halted by my need to sit and rest) I prodded Joas for more information on his mission, but Joas honestly didn't seem to know anything about why the raider leader wanted to see Harkness.

It was another three days of traveling, but we finally arrived at the looming but incredibly welcoming silhouette of Rivet City. Joas and I were greeted an elated guard who was floored that anyone had made it out of the raid alive, he waved us in and we crossed the bridge onto the ship.

Joas was instantly surrounded by his fellow security team members, and there were many hugs and handshakes passed around as Joas caught up with his friends who'd just seen him essentially rise from the dead. Joas ducked out of the conversations for a brief moment and told me "Tom, go see your woman." He punctuated it with a wink and was soon after pulled back into the reunion.

I knocked on the door to our apartment, and there was a long pause before the door slowly peeked opened, barely revealing the sorrowful face of Jenny Stahl. Her face then rapidly cycled through looks of bewilderment, shock, then elation. She whispered "Oh my God, Tom!" before throwing herself through the door and onto me, embracing me. We shared a long tearful kiss, and then she stepped back and got a better look at me.

"My God, you're a mess. What happened, I need to hear this story." She was still crying a bit, but was fast regaining her composure.

"Well, let's get you caught up." I gestured inside, and she backed into the apartment and allowed me to enter.

There really wasn't a good arrangement for us both to comfortably sit, so we sat along the bed on the floor, and I laid my arms around Jenny trying my best to comfort her as I detailed to her my story of capture and incarceration. She didn't seem to want to let onto it too much, but it appeared that my supposed death had really gotten to her.

By the end of the story, she sat up, gave me a kiss on the cheek, and said simply "I'm glad you made it out of there. I couldn't, well, I don't know what I would've done if I'd lost you."

I slowly nodded in a pensive manner, and we sat for a long while in the silence, simply enjoying eachother's company, eventually releasing her from my embrace and helping her up before collapsing into bed with her.

The next morning started with a rap on the door. Jenny and I woke, and she groggily prompted me to get the door. I obliged and shuffled out of bed and to the door.

Joas was in the corridor grinning. Eyebrow raised, I asked "Good morning Joas, what's on your mind?"

"Nothing man," he chuckled "How was your first night back in this bucket?"

It took me a moment, but I caught his drift. I laughed and threw a lighthearted punch at his shoulder and asked "so really, what's going on?"

Joas let the moment pass and composed himself. "There's a meeting of the Rivet City council, and you and I have been asked to attend. Get dressed and let's go, it'll be starting soon." I nodded.

Five minutes later, we were up in the council chambers. It seemed to be the actual former command center, nexus type area of the ship in its original form. Except for bits of food on the counters that lined the outside of the room and some papers sporadically tacked to the walls, it seemed to be in roughly the same condition it was in two centuries ago. When Joas and I walked in, the council was already seated around the huge table that dominated the center of the room. Joas and I found two empty seats next to eachother and sat.

"Gentlemen," A well dressed man spoke up first "allow me to be the first to congratulate you on your escape from the raiders. It is, as I understand it, a truly harrowing, yet valiant tale. Above all, we're truly glad to have you back."

Joas allowed him to completely finish before speaking. "Thank you sir. There is a small issue with Harkness, though-"

The first man interjected. "Harkness? Well, wasn't he killed in battle?"

Joas replied "No. He's the reason that Tom and I were allowed to go free. After we were taken to the raider base, Tom was held as a prisoner and I was told to retrieve Harkness alive, at which point Tom and I would be released. I did, and we were."

The well dressed man was silent and stroked his chin in contemplation. "Well, this is quite odd indeed. We'll monitor the situation, but in the mean time, there is the issue of the empty seat on the city council. Joas, I'd be remissed if I didn't offer it to you for your bravery and loyalty to your fellow man." He gestured to me.

Joas smiled and replied "I accept, sir."

The man smiled and said "Well Joas, welcome to the city council. Any words you'd like to share?"

Joas thought for a moment and said. "Well, for my first act on city council, I'd like to propose that we forgive Tom's debt and offer him and Jenny permanent residence here at Rivet City."

The man nodded thoughtfully and then spoke. "All in favor?"

A chorus of "Aye"s echoed off the worn metal walls. I grinned and shook Joas' hand. "Thank you friend, this means the world to me."

Joas replied "any time, let's just hope the need doesn't arise again."

The meeting continued for another half hour or so. The councilmen discussed the city's business and Joas was brought up to speed on council proceedings. I sat in silence for the entirety of it, still mulling over the strange circumstances in which Harkness was brought to the raider leaders. I did not speak to this unease, however, and after the meeting was adjourned I returned to my apartment.


End file.
